![What is a Debrief Meeting & How to Host It [UX Research Guide]](https://blog.uxtweak.com/wp-content/themes/uxtweak/public/assets/images/videos-fly.png)
Key takeaways
🔦 A debrief meeting is a post-research session where the research team reflects on what happened during the study and how the insights gathered will impact product development.
💡 In UX research, insights can often be conflicting. Hence, a debriefing meeting allows the team to brainstorm and challenge assumptions.
⏱️ The most optimal time to hold a debrief session is right after a research activity.
🔍 Debrief sessions in UX serve different purposes that ultimately lead to the same goal, the incorporation of the right research insights into product development.
Ever wondered about the importance of debrief meetings in user research? Well, a debrief meeting is a session you never knew you needed!
In this article, we have collected everything you need to know about debriefing meetings, including the session’s main goals and detailed guidance on how to hold debrief meetings without a hitch! Keep reading to learn more.
What is a debrief meeting?
A debrief meeting is a session that takes place after a research activity, where the research team discusses the findings further.
Debrief meetings are an integral part of the UX research process as they allow the UXR team to clarify any ambiguities, highlight any critical insights, and align on the next steps and implementation of the research findings.
As David Trevis said:
You get inside your users’ heads by doing good UX research: research that provides actionable and testable insights into users’ needs.
In UX research, insights can often be conflicting. Hence, a debriefing meeting allows the team to brainstorm and challenge assumptions.
In other words, a debrief meeting is a post-research session where the research team reflects on what happened during the research session and further discusses how the insights gathered will impact product development.
By conducting a debriefing the research team has a unique opportunity to bring everything home and ensure that all the valuable insights gathered during the research study have been captured and will be put into practice.
When to host a research debrief session?
The most optimal time to hold a debrief session is right after a research activity. For instance, this can be after a set of moderated user interviews or after a usability test.
It is also important for the debrief session to happen before the team begins to analyze and synthesize the research data.
It is crucial to nail this sweet spot of debriefing as it allows teams to reflect on insights while those are fresh in their minds maximizing in this way the value of insights.
On top of that, the debriefing ensures that the research has an iterative nature as having a quick recap after each research study can help teams adapt accordingly for the next round of research.
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What is the purpose of a debrief in UX research?
Debrief sessions in UX serve different purposes ultimately leading to the same goal: the incorporation of the right research insights into product development.
First things first, the most immediate purpose is to ensure that the research team is on the same page when it comes to research findings.
Different stakeholders tend to have different perspectives so a debrief is a great opportunity for team alignment.
Additionally, a well-executed debrief session allows the team to discuss and clarify any ambiguity in the observations that were made throughout the research activity and build consensus around the research findings.
Last but not least, this session is a unique opportunity for the research team to translate the research findings into actionable next steps.
If you are not convinced yet, here are the key benefits of debriefing sessions:
- Enhanced collaboration: Debriefings in UX research have been found to increase cross-functional collaboration.
- Focus on the right insights: A debrief meeting can help teams focus on a particular insight and resolve it faster!
- Better & faster decision-making: Debrief meetings ensure that different stakeholders are on the same page helping teams make faster decisions.
How to conduct a debrief session in UX research
A well-executed debriefing meeting should be concise and clear. Overall, the session should not take more than 30-40 minutes as this is enough time to discuss key points without overanalyzing.
If you have never conducted a debriefing before here is a step-by-step guide on how to conduct a debrief session in UX research:
1. Quick introduction to the session (5 minutes)
Kick off the session with a brief overview of the research activity that was conducted and the main purpose of the debrief. This way, you can set the tone for the meeting and ensure an actionable outcome.
💡 Pro Tip
A great tip here is to start by posing some questions for the participants. These questions will not only spark conversations but also guide them in the right direction.
An example question could be ‘What research activity was conducted?’ or ‘What is the main purpose of this meeting?’.
2. Review notes and reflect on the study (10 minutes)
After the introduction, go over the notes gathered from the research activity or any particular timestamps from the session recording that stood out, and then allow some time for reflection.
It is crucial at this stage for all the stakeholders to contribute so the role of the facilitator here is to ensure that everyone is heard.
Additionally, at this step, the facilitator might choose to focus on an area or an insight that was not brought up but adds value.
3. Discuss and group insights (10-15 minutes)
This next part of the meeting revolves around bundling insights into meaningful groups. This way, the team can ensure that insights are translated into actionable next steps.
💡 Pro Tip
A tried-and-tested technique here is to use sticky notes or equivalent digital tools to group your insights into categories such as user goals, pain points, or unexpected findings!
Try to encourage discussions on each of the points to ensure that nothing gets missed out on.
4. Create action items and prioritize them (5-10 minutes)
Up next is turning those insights into actionable next steps. When doing so make sure to prioritize them based on both urgency and impact.
Try to understand which of those insights need immediate attention and which of those can significantly impact user experience.
5. Create a plan for synthesizing results (5 minutes)
The final step of the debrief meeting is to create an action plan for the findings ensuring that those are properly synthesized as well as documented.
To effectively do so, a good idea is to assign a person who will be responsible for synthesizing the result into a meaningful and usable report.
With UXtweak, you can seamlessly turn your findings into actionable insights—ensuring nothing gets lost in translation. Start synthesizing your results today! 🐝
Questions to ask during a UX research debrief meeting
As the facilitator of the debriefing meeting, there are questions that you can pose to spark meaningful conversation and extract valuable insights. Here is a helpful guide on those:
✅ Questions around user goals:
- What was the primary goal of the user in this session?
- What were the other secondary user goals?
⛓️💥 Questions around user pain points:
- Were there any sticking points while the user was using the product?
✨ Questions around user emotions:
- Did you notice any particular emotions arising during the interaction with the product?
- Was the user frustrated or confused?
- Were there any unexpected behaviors?
🔧 Questions around opportunities for improvement:
- How can we further simplify the user experience?
- What immediate changes can we make based on the feedback gathered?
💡 Other general questions:
- Which change would have the most impact on the enhancement of the user experience?
- What was the most surprising insight we discovered through this research activity?
Debrief meeting template for UX research projects
Here is a handy debrief meeting template that you can use for your UX research project to ensure consistency:
📥 Download Google Docs
📥 Download PDF
Final tips for effective debrief sessions in UX research
Last but not least, here are some of our top tips when it comes to effective debrief sessions in UX research:
Schedule the meeting nice and early
Make sure to send out the invites for the research debrief session around the same time as when slotting in your research activities to ensure that the meeting is well-attended.
This will help participants plan ahead and carve out the time needed for the session.
Stick to the agenda
Effective debriefing sessions are short and sweet!
To keep the meeting focused and flowy, write up an agenda and distribute it to the participants before the session to ensure that you and your team will walk out of the session with some actionable next steps!
Encourage participation
Come up with a light, yet fun activity to ensure that all the team members speak their minds and contribute to the meeting.
For instance, boost participation in face-to-face meetings by tossing a softball around and whoever catches it needs to share a key research insight!
In a nutshell
Defrief sessions are a crucial part of the UX research process as they are a unique opportunity for teams to collaborate and produce actionable post-research next steps faster!
UX teams should strive to incorporate debrief sessions into their processes in their effort to deliver a better product experience.
UXtweak is the perfect tool for running user interviews, helping you capture insights effortlessly and streamline your research process.
It provides powerful features for moderated testing and research, such as user interviews, usability testing, card sorting and so much more. Plus, with its built-in User Panel, finding the right participants is a breeze.
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Research debrief use case
After conducting a usability testing session for a new e-commerce platform, a research team decides to hold a debriefing meeting to discuss the insights gathered.
During the meeting, all the stakeholders were aligned on one key finding; the fact that users struggle with the checkout process.
Following this, the team decided to simplify the checkout process and conduct follow-up testing.